Home/News/News and Events/Two Sofia University Scholars Awarded the Pythagoras Prize for Work in the Natural Engineering Sciences

Professor Dr Todor Dudev and Professor Dr Ivo Grabchev are this year’s winners as distinguished scholars in the domain of the natural engineering sciences. Professor Dudev holds the Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Applied Organic Chemistry at the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy and Professor Grabchev is the head of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Physiology and Pathophysiology at the Faculty of Medicine of Sofia University.

The 2017 Pythagoras Prize awarding ceremony was held in the Central Foyer of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. Since 2009 the Ministry of Education and Science has been awarding annual Pythagoras Prizes for science to Bulgarian scientists and research teams for substantial contribution to the development of science.

Official guests of the event were Mr Krasimir Vulchev, Minister of Education and Science, Corresponding Member of the Academy Professor Dr Nikolay Vitanov, Vice Rector of Sofia University, Corresponding Member of the Academy Professor Kostadin Hadjiivanov, Vice President of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Associate Professor Milen Mihov, Deputy Chairperson of the Education and Science Commission at the 44th National Assembly, Mr Emil Karanikolov, Minister of Economics, Professor Diana Petkova, Chairperson of the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria, rectors, former ministers, representatives of the Scientific Research Fund, partners from business and scientific establishments.

The ceremony leaders were Ms Zlatina Karova, Director of the Science Directorate at the Ministry of Education and Science, and Dr Vladimir Bozhilov, lecturer at the Department of Astronomy at the Faculty of Physics of Sofia University.

The jury was chaired by Academician Professor Peter Kralchevsky, Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy at Sofia University, the 2016 laureate of the big Pythagoras Prize for his overall contribution to the development of science. Its members included Senior Assistant Professor Dr Antonia Toncheva from the Institute of Polymers, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, laureate of the big 2016 Pythagoras Prize for a young scholar, Professor Dr Eng. Vladimir Bozhinov from the University of Chemical Technologies and Metallurgy, Sofia, the 2016 Pythagoras laureate for distinguished scholar in the domain of the natural and engineering sciences, Professor Ivaylo Turnev from the University of Medicine, Sofia, the 2016 Pythagoras laureate for distinguished scholar in the domain of health and the medical sciences, Professor Irini Doychinova from the University of Medicine, Sofia, the 2016 Pythagoras laureate for distinguished scholar in the domain of health and the medical sciences; Professor Dr Veselin Petrov from the Research Institute for the Study of Society and Knowledge at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the 2016 Pythagoras laureate for distinguished scholar in the domain of the humanities and the social sciences; Associate Professor Dr Georgi Nehrizov from the National Archeological Institute with a Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the 2016 Pythagoras laureate for a leader of a science team with successful exploitation and commercialization of the scientific results, and Professor Tenyo V. Popminchev, laureate of the special prize for substantial contribution of a Bulgarian scholar working abroad.

Mr Krasimir Vulchev, Minister of Education and Science, said how happy he was to be in the midst of the most prominent of Bulgarian scholars and pointed out that Bulgaria may look small but it was the focal point of a big scientific and academic potential through the years. In his words, our mission is to safeguard and develop that potential. Minister Vulchev mentioned that at a meeting of the Council of Ministers the National Strategy for the development of scientific research proposed by the Ministry of Education and Science had been adopted. Presently, it had to go through Parliament. The minister stressed that that was the document that proclaimed that we shared and would share the European development objectives based on science and innovations. In his words, he and his team were proud of every educational and scientific achievement and would do their best that the activities of the strategy be fulfilled.

“For the state it is strategically important to set up conditions that attract young scholars. They are our future science potential“, Minister Vulchev stated and added that, together with the academic communities, society must be provided with information of the primary importance of science for the future development of Bulgaria. He expressed his conviction that together they would succeed in reaching the set goals. Mr Vulchev specially congratulated the nominees on the substantial contribution in science and noted that they were those people who motivated them to persevere with their work, and that those scholars had to motivate the young people to get actively involved in scientific activities.

During the ceremony a congratulatory address was read by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rumen Radev. It stated that the Pythagoras Prize had established itself as an instrument,whereby the scholars could show to society their achievements and results, and disseminate them in the scientific community. According to the President, the laureates show for yet another time that this country’s science was of world standard and Bulgaria generated talented and competent young scholars. In his congratulatory address Rumen Radev wished the scientists perseverance in their work on the verge of the unknown and never ending enthusiasm. “We are witnessing how new scientific breakthroughs in one domain of science can provide solutions to global challenges in various sectors and branches, and open up new exceptional possibilities for the further development of top technologies,” the address added.

Professor Kralchevsky, Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, welcomed the guests of the ceremony and introduced the work of the jury concerning the new competition submissions for the past year.

“All the decisions of the jury were taken with a unanimous consensus, and I would like to thank the colleagues for that,” Academician Kralchevsky said and pointed out that the awarding of the Pythagoras Prize was a special appraisal of the achievements of Bulgarian scientist checking the level of their “readiness” to face the challenges of our time. He specified that, according to the world intellectual elite, since the beginning of the XXIst century, the world had entered its fourth industrial revolution – the time of mobile communications, artificial intelligence, etc.

Academician Kralchevsky added that the present industrial revolution was characterized by making permeable the distinction between, on one hand, the real physical and biological world, and, on the other, the virtual world, the latter becoming ever so real.

Academician Professor Kralchevsky dwelt on the issue of Bulgaria’s place in the dynamically changing world and stressed that Bulgarians had to focus on technologies that the country could back up with highly qualified specialists.

The ceremony continued with the conferral of the prestigious distinctions. Ten Bulgarian scholars are laureates of the Pythagoras Prize for science of the Ministry of Education and Science. The winners of the Prize were selected amongst 41 submitted applications in the following categories: young distinguished scholar in the domain of the natural and engineering sciences, distinguished scholar in the domain of health and the medical sciences, successful leader of international projects, science team with successful exploitation and commercialization of the scientific results, business company with the highest investments in scientific research work and also a Bulgarian scholar working abroad for substantial contribution to science. This year the jury decided not to award the prize for overall contribution to the development of science, nor for a distinguished scholar in the domain of the humanities and the social sciences. In the first category, three proposals were submitted which failed to cover the requirements of the prize, and in the second category there were no nominations.

Professor Dr Todor M. Dudev, Doctor of the Chemical Sciences, is the Head of the Pharmaceutical and Applied Organic Chemistry Department at the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. He has been systematically conducting research work on the influence of various factors on the processes of metal selectivity and connectivity in metalprotein and ion canals. He is the first to have established and systematized the key determinants controlling the processes of competition between different in nature and degree of oxidation metal cations in the systems under study. The established trends have the potential of being used as leading principles in the generation of new metalproteins having the predetermined characteristics and also for the design of new medical products. During the period 2014-2016 Professor Dudev published 15 scientific articles that are cited 85 times. The articles were published in highly prestigious international publications of very high impact factor (IF); one of them being the Chemical Reviews (IF = 37.4); the other one in Accounts for Chemical Research (IF = 22.0) and two more in Journal of the American Chemical Society (IF = 13.04). The overall scientific production of Professor Dudev has 427 citations for the same period. Part of the results are included in a chapter of a book published in 2016 by Springer International, The Alkali Metal Ions: Their Role for Life. He is in charge of 2 projects financed by the Fund for Scientific Research and by Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. He is a reviewer of a number of international scholarly publications. He is a member of the editorial board of 3 international scientific journals.

Professor Dr Ivo K. Grabchev, Doctor of Chemistry, is Head of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Physiology and Pathophysiology at the Faculty of Medicine at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. His scientific research focuses on the design of naphthalimide fluorescent compounds based on photoinduced electronic transfer and their application as molecular sensors. He is the first to have achieved fluorescent modification of polymers and dendrimers in the construction of molecular devices with antenna effect and as censors for the detection of metal ions and protons in the environment. It is the first time that intelligent textile materials with censoring properties and metal-dendrimer complexes with high antibacterial and antifungus activity have been created. For the period 2014-2016 Professor Grabchev published 18 scientific articles in international journals of high impact factor that were quoted 48 times. Professor Grabchev’s overall production from 2014 to 2016 г. was quoted 514 times. During the past three years he was in charge of 5 projects of national and international repute. He is a member of the management board of 5 COST-shares. He has reviewed 22 scientific articles for prestigious international journals. In 2015 he was awarded a Certificate of the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry for his contribution to the reputation of the journal. He is a member of the editorial board of 2 international scientific journals.

The big Pythagoras Prize for a young scholar went to Senior Assictant Professor Dr Teodora Chamova and Assistant Professor Dr Kiril Hristov. Senior Assistant Professor Chamova is a specialist in nervous diseases at the Clinic of Nervous Diseases at the Alexandrovska University Hospital and a Senior Assistant Professor at the University of Medicine -- Sofia. Dr Hristov is an Assistant Professor at the Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The jury awarded an encouragement prize for a young scholar in the field of the social sciences and the humanities to Senior Assistant Professor Dr Blagovesta Nikolova.

The Pythagoras Prize for a distinguished scholar in the domain of health and the medical sciences was awarded to Associate Professor Dr Andrey Chobanov, who works in the field of experimental and applied immunology. Associate Professor Chobanov is the first Bulgarian scientist who is a laureate of this prize twice. The distinction for a successful leader of international projects was won by Associate Professor Dr Tsanko Gechev, Director of the newly founded Horizon 2020 Program at the Center for Plant System Biology and Biotechnology in Plovdiv. The Pythagoras Prize for a scientific team that has achieved successful exploitation and commercialization of the scientific results went to the team from the Institute of Mechanics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, led by Professor Dr Kostadin Kostadinov, and the prize for substantial contribution by a Bulgarian scholar working abroad went to Professor Dr Sergey Petkov from the High International School for Advanced Research in Trieste, Italy.

The prize for a business company with the highest investments in scientific research activities was awarded to ALEKS – 1977 Ltd. The company’s president is Dr Eng. Alexander Dolashky, Senior Assistant Professor at the Institute of Organic Chemistry, Center for Phytochemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.